A vehicle instrument panel is an important component of a vehicle assembly, carrying a variety of essential, useful, and/or desirable elements. For example, the typical instrument panel typically carries or holds such diverse elements as a steering column/wheel, an instrument cluster, an entertainment center, a glove box and/or other dash-mounted storage compartments, navigation systems, built-in cameras, associated electronic modules, and others.
The vehicle instrument panel also serves an important structural function and must meet certain engineering requirements. In particular, for a desirable passenger cabin occupant experience, a primary requirement is for the instrument panel to be as rigid as possible. A suitably rigid instrument panel ensures an acceptable level of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), acceptable crash safety performance, and acceptable climate control performance, among others. A higher NVH characteristic translates into an improved user experience from the perspective of a passenger. A lower instrument panel NVH characteristic results in user dissatisfaction.
FIG. 1 shows a portion of a vehicle 100 including a frame 102 defining an engine compartment 104 and a passenger cabin 106, a cowl panel 108 disposed substantially at a juncture of the engine compartment and the passenger cabin, and an instrument panel 110. In many vehicle 100 designs, the instrument panel 110 is attached to a portion of the cowl panel 108.
This is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2, wherein a portion of the instrument panel 110 is attached to a cowl panel 108 defined by a vehicle-forward wall 112, a vehicle-rearward wall 114, and an intervening floor 116. Because of the relative positions of the instrument panel 110 and the cowl panel 108 in an assembled vehicle 100, as shown in FIG. 3 the instrument panel 110 is typically attached to an upper portion of the vehicle-rearward wall 114 of the cowl panel 108 at one or more attachment points 118 (see FIG. 3).
Because of the relatively high attachment points 118 of the instrument panel 110 to the cowl panel vehicle rearward wall 114, particularly if a portion of the vehicle 100 construction such as the cowl panel 108 is of a lesser stiffness a certain amount of vibration and translation (shown generally as arrow A in FIG. 2) of the instrument panel caused by engine- and road-induced vibrations occurs as the vehicle is operated. These vibrations are measurable as cycles/sec. or Hz, and translate to physical movement, bending, and/or torsional responses of the instrument panel 110. This instrument panel 110 “roll” resulting in a pulling effect on the cowl panel vehicle-rearward wall 114 can result in a lowered NVH characteristic for the instrument panel.
Thus, a need is identified in the art for reducing the tendency of an instrument panel 110 attached to a cowl panel 108 to translate and contribute to NVH during vehicle operation.